Attending the Freedom Swim in Florida--have you ever been kayaking?  

Every year on the 4th of July, the community where I live holds "The Freedom Swim" to celebrate our country's birthday. It involves crossing the Peace River, which flows into the gulf of Mexico, by the way. The place where the swim is held is 1 1/2 miles wide.

What's fun about this swim is that you can float in a boat, use water toys like noodles to keep you afloat, paddle a kayak, or swim to get across the water. Everyone is having such a good time as they are floating across. They even have coolers tied to big rafts for their beverages, floating alongside them!

It's quite festive and there are people of all ages, even in their 80s that take part. There are many boats and water craft drifting quite slowly amongst the "swimmers" in the even anyone gets tired and wants to stop.

This is the first year my husband and I have ever gone to see the "swimmers." Now, we want to take part next year! It looked like they were all having a blast! We are going to start shopping around for kayaks and hope to get out on the water a little bit in the next month or so. Have any of you ever been kayaking before? Enlighten me, please.